The $7 million investment was led by Core Innovation Capital, with participation from Nyca Partners and Jump Capital. Initial seed investors Collaborative Fund, Wicklow Capital, and Crosslink Capital also followed on in this round. The year-and-a-half old fintech company intends to aggressively add more financial institutions to their online lending platform and expand the Oregon-based product development team.

Small businesses in the United States carry nearly $700 billion of small-dollar loans, borrowing over $200 billion each year. But even in a year that saw the U.S. Small Business Administration set an all-time record for lending, and the entrance of dozens of new online lenders and alternative finance companies focused on lending to SMBs, it is estimated that at least a $70 billion funding gap remains in small business financing. Deserving entrepreneurs still report they have trouble accessing the credit necessary to grow their businesses. The Mirador mission is to make it easier for these business owners to access lower-cost capital from banks, credit unions, and community lenders.

Mirador is not a direct lender. Instead, they partner with traditional financial institutions to provide the technology necessary to compete against online marketplace lenders without a heavy investment in software development or additional infrastructure. 'Banks enjoy important relationships with small business customers and are stable sources of lendable capital, but they frequently lack the tools to profitably offer smaller commercial loans,' said Kathleen Utecht, a managing partner of Core, a sector focused fund with deep expertise in financial technology infrastructure. 'The Mirador solution speeds up the process and lowers the cost of lending which represents a valuable win for both the banks and their borrowers.'

With 15 financial institutions on the Mirador platform, it is one of the largest providers of SMB lending technology. Recent lenders to select the company's solution include Sno Falls Credit Union, NY Business Development Corporation, and Pacific Continental Bank. The company is also endorsed by the Oregon Bankers Association and is an innovation partner of the Northwest Credit Union Association.

'Our investor group genuinely understands what is required to bring innovation to the financial markets,' said Trevor Dryer, the CEO and co-founder of Mirador. 'They know how to build a successful fintech business and have immense experience navigating the complexities of this industry.' Led by former Visa president Hans Morris, Nyca brings an especially deep expertise in financial services and technology. Nyca investors and advisors include Max Levchin, the CEO of Affirm and the former CTO & co-founder of Paypal.

How the Mirador System Works
Mirador is a cloud-based borrower application that does not require integration with a lender's legacy systems. A custom branded online experience streamlines the way borrowers get started and can deliver instant pre-approvals to those that meet an institution's specific lending qualifications. Credit reports, tax transcripts, account statements, and financial records are all collected directly from electronic information services, the borrower's bank, and online accounting systems. The platform generates a complete loan file, including a detailed credit memo plus a unique risk summary generated from thousands of rich data points from non-traditional sources to further inform a lender's underwriting. A platform API provides for optional integration with a lender's core systems. The digital workflow eliminates paperwork, reduces costs and drastically shortens the entire time required to make a loan.

About Mirador
Mirador unlocks the power of machine learning for banks, credit unions, and other traditional lenders by delivering the technology necessary to offer competitive small business loans. The customizable white-label solution enables financial institutions to make rapid credit evaluations and easily provide an elegant online borrower experience with a streamlined workflow that makes the review and underwriting of commercial loans fast and profitable. Our predictive algorithms enable any lender to more easily assess borrower risk and minimize loss rates, ultimately resulting in more low-cost credit available for deserving entrepreneurs. The company was founded in 2014 and is headquartered in Portland, Oregon. For more information, visit www.miradorlending.com or follow @mirador.

About Core Innovation Capital
Core Innovation Capital is a leading investor in financial services that empower everyday Americans. With offices in San Francisco and Los Angeles, Core leverages its deep financial services, technology and regulatory expertise to help entrepreneurs and other investors build disruptive, high growth businesses. Core portfolio companies save over ten million customers more than four billion dollars every year. Investments include Oportun, Ripple Labs, CoverHound, NerdWallet, and TIO Networks. Follow Core at @CoreEMC and online at www.corevc.com.

About Nyca Partners
Nyca Partners is a venture capital and advisory firm exclusively focused on applying innovation in financial services into the global financial system. Nyca has rich experience and deep connections in both finance and technology, which provides a unique perspective and facility to help entrepreneurs transform payments, credit models and financial infrastructure. For more information, visit www.nycapartners.com.

About Jump Capital
Jump Capital is a Chicago-based venture capital firm specializing in expansion stage and growth capital investments. Led by a team of experienced operating executives, Jump Capital takes an opportunistic, long-term approach to investing. Jump seeks investment opportunities in scalable technology businesses with compelling leadership teams. Specific areas of focus include financial technology, data security, enterprise software, healthcare and marketing. For more information, visit www.jump-capital.com.